UK Coaching welcomes critical funding to support equal access to sports for girls and boys

The funding comes after the success of the Lionesses at Euro 2022, where the 23 members of the squad wrote an open letter to the Government showing the need to “open the doors” for girls across all levels, starting with PE in primary school.

As a result of the funding, primary schools in England will participate in a minimum of two hours of physical education per week, and will be able to invest more in delivering high-quality school sport and physical activity sessions. The funding will also support more school sport facilities outside of school hours being available, with a focus on making sport more accessible and welcoming to girls, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs.

“Gender equality in sport has made considerable strides in recent years but there is still lots of room for improvement, and this funding is a big step in the right direction."

UK Coaching’s Head of Policy and Coaching, Heather Douglas, added: “Every child deserves to access the many benefits that sport and physical activity participation offers regardless of a child’s gender, ethnicity or affluence.

“The Government’s funding is a fantastic step forward, however as the national body for sports and activity coaches, we know that to see a difference in levels of inactivity amongst girls, it is also vital that we can encourage and support more females to join the coaching workforce, and with our WomenWhoCoach toolkit and #Born2Coach resources, we are putting the resources in place to make sport environments more inclusive and accessible."

Everyone at UK Coaching is proud to support the 400,000 plus coaches who help deliver sport and physical education in primary schools.